


Temporary Reality

by MusicalRaven



Category: Welcome to Hell - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2015-10-30
Packaged: 2018-04-28 23:20:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5109254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalRaven/pseuds/MusicalRaven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"He opened his mouth, ready to take back what he said, when Sock sniffed, pulled his hat down farther, and disappeared.</p><p>Jonathan blinked in surprise, mouth stuck open for a few seconds. He quickly closed it when he realized and shook his head. He closed his eyes and reopened them. Even pinched himself. No Sock. He checked under his bed, in his closet, everywhere. Still no Sock. A laugh of relief burst out of his throat and he bounced back onto his bed, laughing again. The little demon was gone."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Temporary Reality

Sometimes, Jonathan thought he might be schizo. After all, he was in his prime to start seeing visions. And why not? It's not like his family was entirely sane anyways. Aunt Julia was bipolar. Two of his cousins had killed themselves in a weird pact of sorts over a boy. And he wasn't even going to get started on his Dad's side of the family. True, he'd never met any of them-for a good reason obviously-but he'd heard stories.

So yeah, he was probably crazy. Sock was a figment of his imagination that really liked to pester him for no reason. Maybe this was his subconscious' way of getting back at him. He'd never really liked himself anyways. Why not make it worse?

Although, if his subconscious was trying to torture him, it was doing a pretty shitty job. Cause yeah, Sock was annoying, but he wasn't 'make you wanna kill yourself' material. He'd do better on some warped children's show, teaching kids about death and all the things that could kill you. He might actually get something out of it then.

Jonathan shook his head. Get something out of it? The kid was fictional. A delusion of his brain. Seriously, he should just tell his parents. Get on some mind numbing drugs, get Sock out of his life, and become a boring, normal functioning adult.

He groaned and banged his head against the wall in front of him. Who was he kidding? He wasn't going to tell his parents anything. He wasn't about to get stuck on drugs for the rest of his so called childhood. And no way was he getting his Dad involved. That man was scary enough when he was happy.

"Uh, Jonathan?" A familiarly grating voice squeaked. "Are you trying to kill yourself by bashing your brains in? Cause I like the concept but I think you lack the conviction to-"

"Just shut up." Jonathan mumbled, closing his eyes and attempting to forget his was even alive.

Suddenly, a voice spoke loudly in his ear. "Boo!" He gasped and jumped back, choking on his own saliva. Sock doubled over in laughter.

"You should have seen your face!" He said between laughs. Jonathan, after he had regained the ability to breath, glared at Sock.

"What was that for?" He coughed out.

Sock shrugged and grinned. "Just for funzies." Jonathan rolled his eyes.

"Oh great, glad you had your fun." He turned around and started walking away, quickly realizing he was still in his room and had nowhere to go but downstairs. Crap.

"No wait, Jonathan I didn't mean to." When Jonathan didn't stop walking, Sock pouted and flew over his head, stopping in front of him and making him skirt to a halt.

"Dude! Don't do that!" Jonathan said, brushing off his front like Sock had sprayed him with water or something.

"I'm sorry I scared you." Sock said, batting his eyelashes. "Now please, go back to bashing your brains in?"

Jonathan threw up his hands. "Oh for goodness- What if I don't want to kill myself, alright?" Sock actually had the balls to look shocked, which, if he hadn't been so annoyed, he would have found hilarious. "What if I want to be a healthy, happy human being and for you to go away! Huh? Could you believe I'd actually want to still be alive?!"

Sock's shoulder's drooped and he twisted his hands in his scarf. "You-" He sniffed. "You can't mean that."

Jonathan sighed, long and hard. "Yes, I really do. Can you just-" He waved a hand. "Disappear now?"

Sock looked like he was about to cry. Something twisted in Jonathan's chest and his frustration deflated. Okay maybe he was a figment of his imagination. But he seemed so real. He actually felt kind of bad for the little guy. He opened his mouth, ready to take back what he said, when Sock sniffed, pulled his hat down farther, and disappeared.

Jonathan blinked in surprise, mouth stuck open for a few seconds. He quickly closed it when he realized and shook his head. He closed his eyes and reopened them. Even pinched himself. No Sock. He checked under his bed, in his closet, everywhere. Still no Sock. A laugh of relief burst out of his throat and he bounced back onto his bed, laughing again. The little demon was gone. Gone! For good he hoped. Why did he even feel bad in the first place? He wasn't real, and he'd made him leave. He didn't have to be crazy anymore!

Jonathan slept the best he'd slept in ages that night.

 

The sounds were getting to him. Not just the creaking of chairs and the squeaking of markers on the whiteboard. No, now even the chatter was getting to him. Whenever he took off his headphones, it was overwhelming. His sense of not belonging. It had been bad before, but now that Sock had disappeared, it felt like getting dunked in cold water. Same issues, worse problem.

His headphones began to be permanently glued to his head. He was sent to the principal's office several times in refusal to take them off. Each time they were confiscated and each time he raged at his own stupidity. Finally, he stopped taking them to school, as much of a headache that was.

When he started listen again, as if he couldn't, he could hear the taunts. The whispers. His little stint with Sock had done a lot of damage. No one even went near him now. Even the freshman stepped out of his way, sideways looks and wide, fear filled eyes staring at him, as if by touching them he would infect them with his 'crazy.'

Funnily enough, most of the whispers were about how he'd stopped talking to himself. Which of course just kept reminding him of what he'd lost-No. Gotten rid of. Sock had been a nuisance. An evil put forth by his consciousness. He wasn't anything else. Of course, he had been the only person he'd actually talked to…

Jonathan shook his head and leaned back in his chair. This was a line of thinking that would only lead to more issues. He needed to focus. Focus on…wait, what class was he in now? Crap he'd spaced out his whole day again hadn't he? He rubbed a hand over his face, trying to ignore the whispers starting up again. They weren't anything. Anybody. Don't listen to them. Don't-

"You'd think he'd saw a ghost or something."

Jonathan's head shot up and hurriedly glanced around. He quickly caught eyes with the girl who spoke. She curled her lip and snorted a laugh, glancing back at her friend. She said something else he didn't hear, but he was done. He didn't care anymore. Jonathan stood up, making his chair squeak loudly. The room went silent but he quickly flipped his hood up, keeping his eyes to the ground to avoid the stares and grabbing his bag quickly before hurrying from the room. The teachers calls became faint in his ears as they started ringing and tears welled up in his eyes for goodness knows why. He swiped at his face, starting to run as he made it down the hallway. No one stopped him, and he didn’t care to think about why. He continued to run all the way home, tears staining his sweatshirt.

 

He didn't go to school for two days. His parents didn't even notice, as he expected. They were too caught up in their own lives to notice his falling apart.

Before Sock, Jonathan had been fine. Going through the motions had been familiar. Almost comforting. But now that he knew what it was like to actually have someone to talk to everyday, to actually have some kind of warped idea of a friend, it was hard to go back. Really hard. He'd never realized just how alone he really was. And now he was depressed. 

"Of course now Sock was doing good at his job." Jonathan mumbled into his pillow. He sighed and rolled over, swiping at his eyes and wrinkling his nose, his body odor finally waking him from his stupor. Come to think of it, he hadn't showered for a couple days either. He needed to change that ASAP.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed, but quickly pulled them back, goose bumps immediately crawling up his legs. He'd forgotten he wasn't wearing pants and it was freezing in here, sheesh. 

He bit his lip and craned his neck to glance in the hallway. No one should be home. He should be fine if he hurried. He took a deep breath, counted to three, threw off his covers and sprinted into the bathroom. He slammed the door behind him and breathed a sigh of relief. If Sock was here, he'd be yelling at him about staying out of his bathroom. If Sock was here…

Jonathan bit his lip harder than before and closed his eyes. Sock wasn't here. Sock wasn't gonna be here. He needed to get over that. So why did his heart hurt so much?

He made himself shower as quickly as possible, pushing any and all thoughts of that annoying little demon far, far from his mind. After, he dried his hair off, wrapped a towel around his waist, and decided to brush his teeth just for the sake of having something else good in his life. He rinsed his mouth out, spit, and made his way back to his room, running a hand through his hair experimentally as he tried to see if it had dried yet.

As he approached his room, his walk slowed, as if he was anticipating something. He frowned and made himself speed up. Nothing new would be in his room. There was no way. Right? Of course not. He wasn't going to find a familiarly boot clad foot swinging against his bedspread. Or see spiky brown hair tousled, hat skewed to the side, and a wide smile that didn’t seem possible. There was just no way he…

Jonathan actually gasped when he entered his room. It was empty, just as he thought, and for some reason that thought made him gasp. His shoulders drooped and he blew a strand of hair out of his eyes. Of course it was empty. Of course Sock wasn't here. He was gone. He'd left just like Jonathan told him to. He was gone for good.

Jonathan ignored the tears this time, used to them by now. He dropped his towel and tugged on a pair of boxers, wet spots appearing on his carpet. He sniffed and grabbed a pair of jeans, finally swiping at his eyes as the tears began to tickle his chin. Why he kept crying over this, he didn't know. He couldn't control it. It was like his best friend had died or something, except for one, Sock was already dead. And two, didn't exist. Probably. And three, he was nowhere near his friend. No way.

He pulled on his pants, zipping them up and reaching for a shirt. He was done with this nonsense. He was going back to school, he was going to continue to ignore the idiots in his class, and he was going to get over this.

"Why is your room such a mess? I wasn't gone for that long was I?" Sock said, sounding nervous. Jonathan froze, shirt clenched in his fist, not daring to believe his ears. "Jonathan?"

Jonathan turned around slowly, eyes lifting up to meet a familiar green. Sock smiled and waved slightly, giving Jonathan a bit of a weird look. "Uh, are you alright? I mean I guess it'd be fine if you weren't, you needing to die and all, but I kinda hope you are cause I'd feel kinda responsible-" Sock was cut off by Jonathan stepping towards him, flinging his arms open, and trying to hug him…and then stepping straight through him.

Jonathan blinked in surprise, and then, realizing what he'd just done, blushing bright red. He didn't dare turn around, but Sock didn't give him long to gather himself. He felt a hand, an actual hand, on his back and he jumped. The hand vanished.

"Sorry." Sock squeaked. Jonathan turned around again, staring at him. Sock cleared his throat. "You seemed like you wanted to touch me. Cause of, you know, the whole attempted hug thing-"

"How'd you do that?" Jonathan interrupted. 

"Oh, uh," Sock rubbed the back of his neck. "Apparently I can touch you if I want to. Mephistopheles showed me how when I was in hell."

"Wait, you were in hell?"

Sock blinked. "Well yeah, where else would I go. I mean, I couldn't stay here."

Jonathan stared at him for a second. Then he started to laugh. Sock looked absolutely bewildered by this, which only made Jonathan laugh harder. His cheeks hurt, and he was crying, and yet he couldn't remember when he'd last laughed this hard. It was the best feeling.

"You really are bad at your job, Sock." He gasped out and Sock's shoulders began to droop again. Jonathan shook his head and waved a hand at him. "C'mere. You have no idea how happy I am you are."

Sock blinked, confused and frankly, kind of offended. But Jonathan was offering to hug him, and for evil's sake, he wasn't letting that chance slip away. He quickly wrapped his arms around Jonathan, and Jonathan hugged him back, smile still splitting his face.

Real or not, there was no way he was letting Sock go ever again.


End file.
